Hailey Heseltine
ECB Publishing, Inc.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO) recently shared a warning on social media regarding persistent scammer activity in our area. If someone contacts you and identifies themselves as a deputy from JCSO, don't give them any personal information! Call 850-997-2523 to speak to real law enforcement and report the event.
JCSO have received numerous reports from locals of someone contacting them, naming themselves as a deputy, and insisting to speak to the citizens about warrants, court summons and other urgent matters. Some scammers can be very thorough and clever, accessing your public information and then using that sensitive info to gain your trust and convince you to reveal personal details. Just because they might know something about you or your life does not mean that they are legit.
This is a very common tactic, as scammers often will use the pressure of time constraints or urgent matters to get you to panic and give them what they want to steal. If you think you may be getting targeted by this or a similar scam, stop, think and stay calm. You can hang up and call JCSO at 850-997-2523. If you think that there is actually an urgent matter they need to speak with you about, you can do so by reaching out to law enforcement, instead of revealing your personal information to a possible scammer who contacted you first.